12-inches too big for Dell customers

Production pulled on Mini 12 'netbook'

Dell has announced it is to discontinue its Mini 12 netbook range worldwide.

While the diminutive laptop series was stopped in the UK in June, it had continued to be produced overseas.

But Dell has decided to pull the plug completely on the 12-inch Mini range, citing 10-inch displays are the "sweet spot" for its customers.

Sweet spot

In an official statement about the demise of its Mini 12, Dell said: "It really boils down to this: for a lot of customers, 10-inch displays are the sweet spot for netbooks; Larger notebooks require a little more horsepower to be really useful."

To satiate the public's need for Mini computers, Dell has brought back the Mini 9 for "the time being", with Dell's Chief Blogger Lionel Menchaca joking on the company's blog that he "tried to reach the Mini 9 to see how long she'd be around, but she wasn't available for comment like she was last time."